Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We had our first ever clutch of 10 eggs laid last Wednesday (Ghost x Creamsicle.) They are in Vermiculite, covered about 60%; Relative humidity at a steady 94%; temps between 78 (night) and 86 degrees.

The question: several of the eggs are slightly collapsed on the top, the others have remained firm.
Is this common, or a problem?

Thanks....Michael

I am not a real expert, but I would say that they are fine.
As long as the eggs are not dented in more than 40%.

You will see that some of the eggs or all of the eggs may dent in slightly from time to time, then they may slowly fill back out. Now this is what I witnessed with my clutch of 15 last season...

Perhapps some one eles has a better explanation....

The ones out of the vermiculite are the ones dimpling right? Because they are drying out a bit more. Wet a paper towel and then squeeze out every drop of water you can from it. Spread it out and lay it gently over the eggs. Watch for when the towel dries, repeat wetting it when it does. Don't put a "Wet" towel on them, just a damp paper towel. Should help.

They should dimple again a week or two before hatching, no matter how humid they are.

Good Luck!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

ALL of the eggs are about 60% burried in the vermiculite. (Just the top half of each egg is exposed.) I already have a damp paper towel covering the eggs.

None of the eggs are drying out - they are all kept in identical conditions - within 4 square inches of each other.

I don't think its a "drying out" problem. I'd just like to know if the slight collapsing of some of the eggs is common, or should I be preparing my 3 girls-(the snakes owners) for some bad news.

Thanks.....Michael

This is only my second year breeding, so my expierience is somewhat limited. I've not seen dimpling except in the case of dehydration, and again at the end of the incubation. I beleive I have read *somewhere* (??? Don't recall where) that some dimpling is normal, and may even be preferable to artificially plumping them too much by adding to much moisture.

Candle the eggs and check for veins. If you see veins, and you know the humidity and temps are good~ I wouldn't worry. If you don't see veins, I think I would still incubate them and just hope for the best.

Good Luck!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Post a pic of the eggs if you can. What color are they?? Sounds like dehydration. Maybe try and stabilize you temp a little so you don't have such variance. 80-82 would be great. As far as candling (not the greatest idea IMO) be VERY careful NOT to rotate the egg from its original position. Anyway anything we can do to keep disapointment from falling on the household, would love to see them hatch for you.

Matt

A picture would be good if you could. Also as noted, candling and seeing veins is a positive indication that nature is working as intended. - Just don't roll the eggs at all....some of the small white LED penlights work great. I found one that has a flexible fiberoptic bundle 2 inches long that is about 1/4 inch across and you can direct the light right to the sie of the egg w/o washing out the viewing side...

Two questions: 1.) How are you mesuring humidity? What type of devise?

2.)How does the humidity vary as the temparture changes - does it go up or down? The temp change that is most critical to humidity is when the temp goes up. Depending on how fast you are increasing the temperature from 78 to 84, there may be some humidity reduction as the air and eggs warm up. This could be causing some dehydration and the cause of the dimpling. I;m going to guess that it is easier to dehydrate the eggs than rehydrate them.

I believe C. Loves book states some dimpling is OK but strive to correct it -it is often an indication of dehydrating eggs. A little of that is OK but if continues, could retard the neonytes development.

I'm measuring the humidity and the temp with a Radio Shack digital hydrometer/thermometer standing within the Sterilite shoe box in which the vermiculite and eggs are incubating.

They are kept on top of our Tegu cage, above the Ceramic Heat Emitter and UVB bulb -which are inside the plywood cage. (I hope that's clear. The bulb and CHE are inside the cage. The eggs are on top.) This is nice, consistently warm spot.

The temp gradient occurs because the UVB bulb cycles off at night, but the CHE is on 24/7.

I'll try to get a pic of the eggs posted this weekend.

Thanks for your interest & help.

Michael

Centerwood,
Forgot to answer your second question.
The humidity stays very consistent at 94%. Even as the temp increases in the a.m. the humidity stays put. There's a loose lid over the shoe box, and with the condensation, it maintains a nice humid environment.

Thanks again.....Michael